One of the leading causes of lower back pain and disability results from the rupture or degeneration of one or more lumbar discs in the spine. Pain and instability are caused by compression of spinal nerve roots by protruding damaged discs into the vertebral canal. Further, the damaged discs do not provide sufficient biomechanical support to allow a full range of vertebral motion. Normally intervertebral discs, which are located between end plates of adjacent vertebrae, stabilize the spine and distribute forces between the vertebrae and cushion vertebral bodies. These intervertebral discs include a semi-gelatinous component (nuclear pulpous), and a stiff fibrous ring (annulus fibrosis). The spinal discs may be displaced or damaged due to trauma, disease, or aging. A herniated or ruptured annulus fibrosis may result in nerve damage, pain, numbness, muscle weakness, and even paralysis. Furthermore, as a result of the normal aging process, discs may dehydrate and harden. This hardening of the disc reduces the disc space height which in turn produces instability of the spine and decreased mobility.
In the more severe cases, the disc tissue is irreparably damaged, and the entire disc has to be removed (discectomy). The discectomy is often followed by a fusion of adjacent vertebrae in order to stabilize the spine. In order to alleviate pain, abnormal joint mechanics, premature development of arthritis, and nerve damage, the disc space between the adjacent vertebrae may be maintained following the discectomy. Spacers or implants are used to maintain the intervertebral space between the adjacent vertebrae.
Current treatment methods utilize grafts of either bone or artificial implants to fill the intervertebral space between adjacent vertebrae. It is desirable that these implants not only fill the disc space vacated by the damaged disc, but also restore the disc space height to pre-damaged conditions. An implant must be sufficiently strong to bear substantially all of the body's weight above the intervertebral space. Furthermore, it is desirable to use the implants to promote fusion of adjacent vertebrae across the disc space and thereby promote mechanical stability. To be successful the implant must provide temporary structured support and allow bone growth to establish fusion between the adjacent vertebrae. Success of the discectomy and bony fusion typically requires the development of a contiguous growth of bone between adjacent vertebrae to create a solid mass of bone capable of withstanding the cyclic compressive spinal loads for the life of a patient.
Current methodologies use implants or grafts made of metal, plastic composites, ceramics, or bone. Natural bone grafts may be developed from autograft, allograft or xenograft. Other bone grafts may include certain man-made substances including binder joining bone chips, composite bone structures, ceramics minimizing bone, etc. The use of bone implants offers several advantages over the use of artificial spacers or implants. The bone implants have a suitable modulus of elasticity that is comparable to that of adjacent vertebrae. The bone implants can be provided with voids that can be packed with cancellous bone or other osteogenic material to promote bone growth and fusion between adjacent vertebrae. Implants formed by cortical bone have sufficient compressive strength to provide a biomechanically sound intervertebral spacer. Further, the implant bone will be replaced over time with the patient's own bone through the process of creeping substitution. In contrast to the bone implants, artificial implants do not fully incorporated into the fusion mass.
As more fully described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,397,364 to Kozak et al., incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, one principle in implant design is that the load transmitted between adjacent vertebrae should be on the strongest part of the vertebral body. This patent describes the desirability of concentrating the heaviest loads on or near the ring apophysis to avoid subsidence of the device into the surrounding vertebral end plates and subsequent collapse of the intradiscal space.
Another principle in implant design is that a spacer should be structured such that implantation of the spacer is minimally invasive. Relatively large single piece spacers capable of transmitting loads to the ring apophysis require large incisions in order to be implanted between vertebrae. Such incisions extending the full width of the disc space create potential problems. More specifically, blood vessels, nerves, ligaments, muscles and other tissue naturally occurring adjacent the effected disc space must be severed or retracted out of harms way. In some cases, such as blood vessels and nerves, the obstructing structure may not be moved without permanent damage to the patient. In these cases, large implants may not be used.
In addition to the damage done to the tissues surrounding the disc space and the extended healing time required to recover from the trauma, damage done to the ligaments extending between adjacent vertebrae may negatively impact the success of the operation. The severed or stretched ligaments may no longer function to maintain tension on the disc space thereby allowing the implant to migrate. Further, unexpected movement between the vertebra and the implant may prevent or impede bone fusion.
A further consideration is that a spacer fit the patient's intradiscal anatomy in order to restore the proper anatomic relationship between the disc, pedicle, nerve root, and facet joints. Restoration of normal disc height will also return the disc annulus to tension, reduce annular bulge and promote stability. At the same time, the device should not shield the spine from all of the stresses normally borne by the spine, since it has been found that reduction of normal stress on the vertebrae can result in bone loss. Also, a spacer should be able to be slowly incorporated into the patient's own body in order to create a stronger fusion mass between vertebrae.
The availability of suitable bone is another consideration when developing bone grafts for disc space insertion. As will be appreciated, only certain bones in the human body have sufficient cortical bone mass to support the loads commonly experienced in the spine. While the potential exists for greater availability of suitable bone sources from animals, at present, such sources are not commercially viable due, at least in part, to the potential for rejection by the human body. A further factor is the relatively few people who agree to donor their bodies for these uses. Thus, there is a need to develop superior implants for interbody fusion from the imperfect donor bone stock available.
With these goals in mind, the Applicants have developed a spinal spacer and method of manufacturing according to the present invention.